Beings and Time
by Setesh the Clueless
Summary: Bleach x over. What if Aizen partially succeeded in his ambitions? Well that's the soul society Naruto is plunged into after his death. Damn that ramen giving him an early heart attack.
1. Chapter 1

AN: So I thought about my concept for the bleach cross over on how to make it a little more original. Now I don't think anyone has actually done a Naruto that goes to a Bleach universe where Aizen and his cohorts succeeded at least partially in destroying Soul Society. Now, I thought about the comments on the pilot that I first posted and it seems some of you that remember Kenshi from The Calming Storm seemed to like a House like personality along with Naruto's energetic personality. I decided to keep that going except in a slightly different way as you will see when you read. I thought these ideas and developed them into something I hope you as the readers will find interesting as this story progresses. I don't think I'm going to have it have any real official ties other than use some elements I'm developing in The Calming Storm. Anyways let me know what you guys think and any feed back would be nice.

* * *

Naruto awoke to a wooded area. He looked around and spotted a white fox near him. The fox was about the size of a small dog. Other than being a standard forest with trees and grass with a clearing that he was laying in he had no idea where he was. The fox yipped at him and then turned as if wanting him to follow. He didn't move to sit up or follow the fox. The white fox looked back at him as if waiting and finally emitted a growl of annoyance. It pulled on the sleeve of the white robe Naruto was wearing. Naruto found that in itself odd considering he was sure he had been adorning the standard ANBU attire when last he checked.

Naruto let out a sigh this little animal was being annoying now with how much force it was now starting to yank on his sleeve with. He batted the fox away with annoyed slap of his hand. He hadn't meant to hit it that hard but the poor creature practically flew three feet only an inch of the ground before it finally made contact and rolled slowly to a stop. Naruto being his usually compassionate self quickly got up and rushed over to the animal to make sure he hadn't seriously hurt the animal. Surprisingly the fox got up be it on shaky legs and gave its body a thorough shake to get the majority of dirt in its fur out.

It sent Naruto loud growl before turning and started to walk off. Naruto let out another sigh. At least the thing wasn't going to attack him after that. He noticed the fox's ears perk up and it was on high alert. That lasted for only a split second before it bolted off into the tree line and brush. He found it odd that such a fox would be here in a forest of all places. If he recalled correctly the only white foxes he remembers ever encountering were in the country of snow and other snow covered places. The fox was definitely out of place.

Naruto heard a small thud being dropped at his feet. The fox had already returned and it looked to have a dead rabbit with it. It sat down on its haunches and simply stared expectantly at Naruto.

"What? So you caught a rabbit. Congratulations, now mind actually doing something productive and finding me a town or something around here so I can get back to Konoha?" Naruto noticed the fox's ears lay back and it imitated a small growl and stuck its nose up at him as if offended.

Naruto smacked his face with the palm of his hand and dragged it down. "I sound too much like Kenshi these days. Alright, I'm sorry thanks for catching me dinner." Naruto stated not really knowing why he was apologizing to a fox.

The fox emitted another growl. "Our dinner?" Naruto questioned trying to figure out what the hell he did this time.

The fox yipped at him this time and picked up the rabbit and started walking off.

"Hey, wait up I'm hungry too!" Naruto whined as he followed the fox while taking in all his surroundings in order to see if he could get any bearings as to where he was.

After what seemed a good distance of where he had first awoke and met the fox the animal came to a stop in a random point in the middle of another clearing that was no bigger than five feet in any direction. It dropped the rabbit and curled up.

As Naruto approached the fox it cracked an eye open and glanced at the rabbit. It was definitely trying to tell Naruto something. Naruto groaned at the implication. The fox probably wanted him to make camp and fix the damn rabbit by cooking it.

Naruto looked around for a bit. "Well, I could be worse off I guess." Naruto set to gathering some small timber to light. He was just about to set out looking for more rocks when he noticed a very faint hollow thud when he walked on a certain side of the pile. Naruto stomped his foot to make sure he had truly heard the noise and sure enough it was there.

He glanced over at the fox. Naruto pondered if the fox knew something was here but for now the sun was steadily going down and Naruto still had much to do to get a decent enough camp before dark.

Naruto went back to his task at hand at finding what the hell was up with that sound. He dug a bit with his bear hands and hit a wooden board. It seemed fairly old but in good condition considering it was buried in the dirt. Naruto started digging around the board until he had the outline and what seemed to be a frame. It was a door or covering of some kind that had a handle. It was just barely big enough for a human to fit through. Naruto whistled to the fox to get its attention. Upon seeing the fox's head pop up and look in his direction.

"Don't feel like exploring do you?" Naruto was somewhat surprised to see the fox nonchalantly stretch and casually walk over and seemed to wait for him.

Naruto must be out of his mind thinking the damn thing actually understood him. "Well here goes nothing." Naruto opened the wood door and peered into the black abyss that greeted him down the hole. The fox seemed to take a few sniffs and entered. Naruto heard the thing yip at him like before when it had wanted him to follow.

"This is already fucking weird as hell might as well indulge my curiosity." Naruto mumbled as he stuck his foot through the hole looking for any footing. He was had almost lowered himself completely into the whole with just his hands gripping the frame before his toes hit anything that was solid. Naruto waited for his eyes to adjust to the dim light making its way through the opening and looked around. He grumbled when he spotted a ladder made of slits up the side. At least he had a way out but that would have been nice to know before-hand considering how much time he had wasted being cautious and lowering himself down. Naruto saw a corridor that was led down by a set of stairs. He took one step in the direction before falling face first down the stairs. Apparently his furry friend had decided to wait on him to get down and had sat there patiently. Perhaps not the best spot at least in Naruto's opinion to wait considering he still couldn't see very well.

With a painful thud and a groan of pain Naruto pulled what little remained of his sorely bruised body to an upright sitting position after coming to a stop at the base of the stairs. Muttering some curses to the damn animal that had so graciously made his trip down the stairs eventful.

Naruto looked over to his left where the bottom of the stairs were and saw the fox sitting there once again just staring at him. "You did that on purpose didn't you?" Naruto accused it.

The fox merely tilted its head to the side as if amused at the declaration. Naruto gave one final groan as he stood back up. "Alright now where the hell are we and what is this place?"

Naruto kept an arm on the wall as he walked the circumference of the room. Noting that there had been two tables what appeared to be a door knob and rotted out cot. He had also used his hand to find several mounts that were just above eye level at the base that still held candles. There were also two near the door handle and also two more near the stairs that he had gracefully descended.

Naruto fumbled in the dark around one of the tables that was obviously used as a desk. In one of the drawers he managed to find a dilapidated box that disintegrated as he tried to open it. To his luck the matches that were contained in the box were considerably in better condition.

Naruto then slowly made his way to a torch and lit it. The room finally had some light in it. He proceeded to light a couple of the candles. He didn't feel like using up all of them if he didn't need to. "Well, that's much better." Naruto looked around the room once again he went through several drawers of the now identifiable desks. He found a key to one or both doors to the room. He opened one to find it something of a supply closet. It was filled with more candles and various rotted cloths that were barely distinguishable in their current states.

He found a few sealed up ink bottles that still seemed to be good. How that was possible he wasn't going to bonder on but at least if he could find some paper he'd be able to keep a log of some sorts so he could at least pass the time if he got bored. There were not brushes that were in serviceable shape though so he'd have to create some sort of makeshift writing utensil.

Naruto heard his stomach grumble and he decided using the matches and cooking dinner should come before exploring the rest of the small cavern he had discovered. At least he had a shelter that wasn't easy to find. Naruto remembered seeing a letter opener lying on the desk. It wasn't the best but it would do for a makeshift knife for now. He retreated back up the steps to find that there was a nice holder for the torch just next to the top of the stairs. He had other uses for the torch for now. He stabbed the torch into the ground and went to find some rocks so he could set up a fire ring. Once that was done he used the torch to light the fire.

He heated the letter opener in the coals that began to form under the branches. After a few minutes he took the end of the leather opener with a clothes hand. He used a small portion of his white robe to cover his hand. He could still feel a good portion of the heated metal under the cloth. He methodically cleaned and dressed the rabbit. Soon enough the rabbit was beside the fire on a stick. After watching the rabbit cook and slowly rotating it periodically so it wouldn't burn on one side Naruto book a huge bite and found the meat to be quite satisfying. A yip from his side made him eye the fox.

"Yeah, I guess you do deserve a little since you caught the thing." Naruto mumbled as he tore several strips of cooked meat from the legs of the rabbit.

Naruto held his hand out and watched as the fox made the strips disappear in a matter of seconds. The fox stared at him and glanced occasionally at what was left of the rabbit in his hand. "What? No way! I'm way bigger than you so I need more food." Naruto said as he started to cradle the precious food.

Naruto shooed the fox away as he tried to eat in peace. The fox just kept staring at the food as he ate. "You're not getting anymore. Now, I already got an idea of what to name your ass." Naruto said through mouthfuls of rabbit.

"How about Sasuke? That little bastard was one selfish asshole." Naruto asked only to receive a fierce growl.

"Okay okay." Naruto made the mistake of using his hands to placate the animal to show he didn't mean to offend. It was in the middle of flailing his arms that he noticed what was left of his dinner on the ground in front of his fox as he was stripping the bones clean of what little was left.

"Oh thank you. You know how to really kick a guy while he's down. You're just as bad as Kenshi was." Naruto grumbled. He noticed the fox's ears perked up and it looked his way.

Naruto slapped his palm to his face. "You got to be kidding me. Kenshi, you want me to call you Kenshi?" The only reply was a happy yip.

Naruto glared at the fox. "I fucking hate you."

The fox gave a happy yip and sat down with an almost amused look on its face.

Naruto put out the fire with a quick clean up and picked up what was left of the torch and started towards the entrance of the cavern. "Come on, I've had an eventful first day and I'd like to see if I can salvage that cot somehow."

The fox trotted next to him quietly. It jumped in without a second thought as he threw some clumps of grass and dirt from what he dug up early over the lid. He slid it into place. Tomorrow morning he'd be able to repair it to where you couldn't tell it had been disturbed but for now he wanted to get a bed prepped and sleep on where he was. He'd use this as his base camp until he could figure out where he was since it was a nice shelter.

The fox curled up in the corner off to the side. Naruto inspected the frame of the cot. "Well, I guess it is good enough." With that Naruto took off his robes and started rapping and tying knots in various places to distribute his way over the length of the robe along the frame. Once he was finished he slowly eased himself onto the fabric listening for any sound of tearing to ripping.

With a sigh he finally allowed his full way to sit on the cot. "Finally something went my way without a disaster happening." Naruto slipped his legs onto the edge. It was cool down there and a little colder than he'd like without wearing a robe or having a cover of any sort but he'd make do. At least he had a cot.

The cracking of wood came to Naruto's ears just before he was able to slip into a peaceful slumber. The frame snapped loudly and he met the stone surface the floor with the frame of the cot that didn't break coming down on top his back. "Fuck it." Naruto mumbled as he just went back to trying to sleep in his mind it was good enough. He could have sworn he heard Kenshi snickering as best a fox could over in the corner.

* * *

Naruto awoke and for a moment he didn't recall where he was but that only lasted a moment before yesterday's events came to the forefront of his mind. He sighed and slowly got up from the wreckage that was the remains of the cot and his robes. He quickly untied the remains of his robe and only a couple small tares that he could eventually fix if he found a needle and thread were the only thing he found upon inspection of the damage to his clothes. The fox was cleaning its fur off in the corner when he looked around. It also had a dead rat that had its neck clearly broken by the odd angle of the head.

"Looks like you got a nice breakfast for yourself there." Naruto mumbled although something fury hit his face shortly after the comment. He looked down to see the dead rat lying on the floor.

Naruto looked over at the fox. "That's disgusting and a waste of food if you're not going to eat it."

The fox drew in a breath and huffed at the comment. Naruto picked up the rat by the tail and looked at it. "Would you eat it if was cooked?" Naruto watched as the fox ears perked up at the comment. "I'll skin it and let you have the whole thing. That way we aren't fighting over whatever rabbit we find later. Is it a deal?"

The fox seemed to ponder on the offer before walking over to the stairs and sat down waiting to follow Naruto up. The blonde blew a sigh of relief. Now all he had to do was find a good water source and see if he could manage to make a few makeshift knifes and he'd be able to manage for a while out here.

After setting the rat to roast Naruto looked over at the fox. "I don't suppose you know where a stream would be nearby would you?"

The fox sniffed the air about for a bit before wondering off. Naruto was surprised at how intelligent the fox seemed to be in able to understand him and such. He always held some sort of respect or dare he say it love for them from the fox's influence or maybe it was just that he enjoyed their clever streaks that were much like his own personality.

The rat was just about done when the fox returned with a fish wiggling in its mouth. It spit the fish out in front of Naruto. "Show off." Naruto playful said while he grabbed the fish and gave the fox a rub on the back of the ear. He handed the roasted rat to the fox that devoured the meal in seconds. Its appetite rivaled his own it seemed because was eying the fish it had caught for Naruto earlier.

Naruto enjoyed the cooked fish only having to defend off one attempt by the fox when it tried to have a bite it also.

Naruto got up and dusted himself off. "Wait here for a second I'll be right back." Naruto said off handedly as he went back into the cavern for a few minutes. He returned with a bucket and after making it back to ground level he began to fix the cover to the hole so it blended with the clearing better.

Once he was finished he walked up to the waiting fox. "Alright, let's go get some more fish."

The fox turned in the direction it had returned from with the fish. It lead Naruto for a ways until they came to a stream. It wasn't much but it would do. It was about eight inches to a foot deep and about two feet across. Naruto watched as the fox set to work and started stalking various fish that came close to the shore and when they got close enough it would pounce and if it missed it'd chase them a few feet then come back to shore and wait. He found it comical, yet effective at the same time because not too long after the fox started they already had two fish sitting in a now water filled bucket. Naruto in the mean time splashed some water in his face and got his hair wet. It was a cool and refreshing stream. It wasn't until he was just about done that Naruto noticed something. His whisker marks were gone. He ran his hand where the marks once were and there was nothing. It's like they were never there his skin was perfectly smooth except for the occasional stubbles that were already sprouting around his face.

He looked over to see how the fox was doing on his catch to see the lazy bastard laying next to the bucket. He walked over to the bucket to find five fish in it. It was good enough to lunch and maybe dinner. The bucket wouldn't be able to hold much more than that anyways.

Naruto eyed for the fox for a moment. That animal was way more intelligent for any normal animal. Maybe it had been trained at some point in time in its life?

Naruto set the fish aside once he got to the cavern and set the covering back into place. He was curious about the terrain and wanted to explore some before it got too dark. He made his way back to the stream. He followed the stream in the direction it was flowing. Hopefully it would lead him to a larger water source and possibly a small town since most would be established where there was plenty of water such as a river or stream. The only rare side was Suna but even though had a massive underground river running under it so wells were plentiful and brought enough water for the whole village.

Naruto followed the stream for a ways but he got a glimpse of a structure along the water. As he got closer he could see that it was a small town. Finally some civilization that would help him out if they were friendly. The fox was still at Naruto's side and he watched as it's ears worked this way and that listening for any signs of life once it noticed they were going in that direction.

Naruto was cautious on his approach since he knew nothing about the area or the people here. He noticed that the building he had first seen near the water was damage and had it's far side about to fall apart. He continued into the town and noticed several things that did not sit well with him. There was obvious dried blood stains on various building and large gouges out of the walls. His fox companion was sniffing everything and was being extremely cautious. On top of the obvious markings on the buildings that were caused if he had to guess by a larger than normal bear there were also signs of humans fighting each other. He soon found what the more central area of town littered with makeshift spears and several arrows. He even saw a few pillars and sidings to homes with sword slashes on them. He looked at all the dried blood on the ground. There were no bodies left but it was obvious what had happened. The town was massacred. It couldn't have held more than fifty people in it or so in it.

Naruto looked about at all the broken weapons and such that had been left behind. Whoever had been there had been wasteful and concerned in salvaging the weapons there. Naruto sighed he hated being so cold hearted to such a scene but he had seen plenty of death in his lifetime now. He went about salvaging several spears and actually found a barber shop that had a razor for him to use so he could keep his facial hair under control. He found several bags in some of the buildings and used them to salvage spearheads, knives, left over clothing, twine, a spoon, two forks, some wooden plates, a metal skillet, a couple needles, some blankets, and a bow. Naruto had found several bows that were works in progress by someone who looked like a real professional at making them from scratch. It would help him hunt down some food at least. After picking up the few arrows that were still intact Naruto left with his bags full on his shoulders and one bow. Kenshi seemed to be lingering back for a bit exploring more of the place, but he had enough of the smell of death.

He was about to turn to have the village go out of site when his fox companion caught up to him. Kenshi was holding a massive loaf of bread in his mouth while it strutted past as if saying look what I found and no you can't have any.

Naruto settled for letting Kenshi only have one of the five fish that were back at camp if he didn't share.

Naruto nearly smacked himself in the face for that thought. "I'm actually jealous of a fox. I'm definitely losing my sanity the longer I stay here with him."

Naruto gave a sigh as he looked up at the setting sun. "I have a feeling what I found around here I'm not going to like."

Little changed in Naruto's routine through the days other than the occasional target practice with the bow and the occasional kata he worked through to calm his mind and practice his taijutsu. He had continually suppressed his chakra levels since waking and had only allowed them to flow since he had awakened. To his surprise his manipulation took considerably more effort. He also couldn't do more of the more complicated manipulations he had developed. He was frustrated at that and considering the effort it required for his more basic moves he settled on relying on the bow, makeshift knives, and spears he had salvaged during his hunts and defense considering he had yet to really meet anyone of consequence. He had returned to the ghost town several times to fix up on supplies and explore hoping to find some sign on life. He had found a log book telling briefly of what happened to the town. In the unused space he decided to keep a log of any significant events during his stay mainly for his sanity.

His routine continued for several months without ever making contact with a single person. He had found a disgusting creature feasting on a freshly killed deer. It had taken some effort to dispatch the thing once it noticed his presence. The damn thing had proved fairly resilient to anything until he beheaded the things with a swipe of the hand creating a blade of wind. That was the only truly eventful thing that he could remember.

Naruto sighed once more as he sat there cooking their lunch by the fire. Once he finished he took the plates towards the stream with the bucket in hand. The fox seemed to almost enjoy hunting the fish because he would be waiting for Naruto to wake up and lift the covering to let him out. He even carried the bucket back and forth if Naruto seemed to be lazing about during the morning hours.

Naruto was cleaning the dishes while listening to Kenshi play it wasn't until his fox let out a growl did he even notice their presence. Three figures were walking down the side of the stream. Naruto stood and could see the looked human however one had a mask much like that creature. One of them waved at him from the distance. Naruto waved back he told Kenshi to calm down. It wasn't long before he had a man escorting to two women were standing before him in somewhat of an awkward silence considering two of the three travelers were arms and one with a fairly large sword on his back.

A girl in orange hair greeted him warmly with a bow. "Ohayo, my name is Orihime, this is Ichigo and Neliel." She introduced the male companion who also had orange hair and lady with teal hair.

Kenshi growled at the teal haired lady. Naruto bent down and took a firm hold of a patch of fur on the back of his neck while thumping the fox on the head.

"Sorry, Kenshi seems a bit weary of the lady. I must say you're the first people I have seen in the area by the way my name is Naruto." Naruto replied still not letting his guard down while maintaining a polite atmosphere.

The three looked at one another. The man spoke this time. "What about the town ahead? We thought you were living there."

Naruto dipped his head a bit. "I'm sorry, but they are dead."

Ichigo in the group was, gone in an instant, flash stepping towards the town. Naruto watched him go and just whistled at his speed. Neliel was soon following Ichigo.

Naruto turned towards Orihime who seemed to be more curious about the fox than the village. "Aren't you going to follow them?"

Orihime looked up at him and shook her head. "Those two are fighters. I've learned my role is better suited staying out of their way until they need me to heal them."

Orihime looked kind of down caste as if she was weak. Naruto placed a hand on her shoulder to get her attention back on him. "It doesn't take nearly as strong a person to swing a sword while in the heat of battle as it does for someone to wait patiently for their true role to arise when their friends are injured."

Orihime smiled at Naruto's kind words and the intensity that he said them with was almost awe inspiring. "Still doesn't give me the power to protect my friends as well as I wish to." Orihime said in a small voice.

Naruto chuckled as he started to return to washing the dishes he had brought with them before his visitors had arrived. Kenshi settled for approaching Orihime cautiously until she finally began to pet the fox. Naruto wasn't sure but he could have sworn he heard Kenshi purr at times.

Soon enough Neliel and Ichigo were back. "Did you find anything that gave a clue as to what happened to them?"

Naruto nodded. "I found a journal of sorts that I have been adding to as of late. It says that Hollows attacked them killing of several of the better fighters in the village. Then it said something about bandits harassing them. After those entrees the journal stopped.

Ichigo looked around a bit. "Uh, exactly where have you been staying?"

Naruto whistled for Kenshi to come only to see the fox snuggled up to Orihime as she continued to shower the fox with attention.

"I've been staying in a small underground installation that is not far from here." Naruto said as he started walking about. The group soon joined him on his way back. They came the small clearing with a fire ring and a stump to sit on.

"So where is it?" Ichigo asked nonchalantly.

"Why the hell would I tell you that?" Naruto raised an amused eyebrow.

Ichigo seemed kind of taken off guard. "Because I kind of assumed that's why you were walking this way."

Naruto chuckled. "Kid I wasn't born yesterday just because you are welcome in my company for chit chat doesn't mean I'm going to trust you. Where I live right now is not exactly something I'm going to show everyone considering I don't even if you are the bandits the village talked about."

Ichigo seemed to take offense to the accusation. "If we wanted you dead you would be already."

Naruto waved him off. "I don't die easily, but I figured you wouldn't be so stupid as to show yourselves to a villager if you were going to raid them regardless of your strength. Point still stands I don't really know you so you're not really welcome in the one secure location I know about."

Ichigo still bristled a bit at the comment. "Well then we got to get going to make it to Yoruichi's camp before we can sleep. I'm not sleeping out in the open to get killed in my sleep."

Naruto shrugged. "That's your decision I'm not threatening your life to keep you here. The company is nice but like I said not nice enough to give my only place safe for me to live so far."

As they were about to leave a thought hit Naruto. "By chance any of you know which direction Konoha is in?"

The three looked at each other before mumbling amongst themselves. "Do you have any idea where you are right now?" Ichigo asked.

Naruto shrugged. "Nope, been trying to figure out which way I need to head to get back home but none of the terrain is familiar."

Ichigo smacked his palm to his face. The three started mumbling amongst themselves again. Neliel seemed the least interesting in the argument between the two orange haired teens.

Ichigo finally stomped his foot down. "Fine we've wasted enough time. If you can convince him he's welcome to join us but he already said he doesn't trust us."

Naruto just shook his head at the hot headed teen and sighed. Ichigo reminded him of himself just a few years ago.

Orihime seemed a bit reluctant about what she was going to ask. "Naruto-san, you may not know this but you're kind of dead. You're in soul society, which has become overrun with Hollows. You're welcome to join us to the encampment we are going to. It's not exactly safe out here."

Naruto blinked a few times. He chuckled to himself. "Man, I must be spending to much time out here alone. I could have sworn you told me I was dead."

Ichigo leaned over to Neliel. "Think he's going to snap when she repeats that he's dead?" Neliel shrugged but she didn't envy the man that's for sure.

Orihime gulped the chuckling was not exactly a comforting sign. "That is what I said Naruto-san."

Naruto stopped chuckling at that. He was trying to process the mentioning of Hollows and soul society that he had read in the journal they never mentioned at any possibility that he died. "I don't find that funny, not one bit. I think you all should leave."

Orihime reached out to his arm in hopes he would listen. "Please, Naruto we are just trying to help."

Naruto ripped his arm away from her. "I don't want to hear it." Naruto was starting to feel faint. Something deep down inside of him knew she was telling him the truth. He started to hyperventilate and soon enough Orihime watched him passed out.

She looked over to Ichigo pleadingly. "Oh no, you heard him he wanted us to leave. He was stupid enough to pass out in the open."

"Ichigo please, he may not trust us but he needs our help." Orihime pleaded.

Ichigo started grumbling as he started to lift the blonde idiot they had just met up onto his shoulders he hoped the bastard didn't turn out to be a bigger pain than he already thought he was. "This is such crap. I want you to know he's heavy as hell too." Ichigo walked past the relieved Orihime.

??break??

Naruto slowly came to. He could feel a few people presence around him and he tried to slip a knife into his head just to be safe. He realized he didn't have any around his arms and such. Naruto slowly opened an eye to find Orihime sitting patiently at his side while talking to someone who was outside his line of vision. Orihime turned to see his eye open after a moment. She opened her mouth to say something but didn't seem to know what to say. Naruto obliged by asking an obvious question on his mind now because he definitely was not in the village or the underground installation he found considering he was in what looked like a tent. "Where am I?"

A woman off to his right that was leaning on the wall spoke making him turn. "Safe for now. Yoruichi-sama has agreed to let you stay after reassurance by Orihime you would be cooperative and not cause trouble while staying with us. After finding all those cleverly hidden weapons on your persona however has me wondering."

Naruto nodded. "Where's Kenshi?"

Orihime held up the white fox. Kenshi apparently hadn't left her arms.

Soi Fon left after Naruto seem to fall quiet. Naruto finally sighed. "So I'm dead. Not exactly what I was expecting when I died but I guess it could be worse."

Orihime mumbled a small apology. Naruto looked over at her. "So what do I do now?"

"For now Yoruichi wants you to rest. Once you feel a little more like yourself she said she'd like to talk to you." Orihime said.

Ichigo finally came in after a comfortable silence fell over the two. "Orihime after we rest we're heading back to Kisuke's shop. Yoruichi was glad for the update."

Orihime nodded and got up. "It was nice to meet you Naruto-san. Stay safe and I hope you will help Yoruichi out once she tells you the situation with soul society."

Orihime set Kenshi down at the foot of Naruto's bed. Kenshi stretched for a bit before curling up at the foot of the bed with what little space there was.

Naruto nodded and said his goodbye to Orihime as she left.

Naruto sighed once more. Looked like the afterlife he was given would be just as interesting as his life in the elemental nations. Naruto eventually slipped into a sleep.

* * *

Naruto awoke to a deep growl from Kenshi. He sat up and found the fox staring at something over the foot of his bed. Naruto looked over the foot of the bed to find a black cat on its back looking up innocently at Kenshi. The cat gave Naruto a meow in greeting.

Kenshi flicked his tail again for the cat to try and catch the white tail between its front paws. Naruto chuckled. "Awe Kenshi, she just looks like she wants to play. Be nice since we are guests here."

Kenshi looked back at him and whined. "Hey don't give me any lip. I said no."

Naruto stuck his index finger of his right hand as if scolding a child a Kenshi. The fox stared at it for a moment making Kenshi almost go cross-eyed. Then Kenshi opened his mouth and clamped down on the finger up to the first knuckle. Naruto eye twitched for a moment before started yelling at the fox at how much that was uncalled for and hurt.

Finally Naruto penned the fox against the bed. He pressed his forearm on the foxes throat just enough to strain the windpipe a little. "Let go or I start strangling you."

It was this scene that Soi Fon walked in on. Yoruichi was watching amused from the foot of the bed. Naruto had the fox named Kenshi penned and was about to choke the life out of him while the fox had his finger in his mouth.

Soi Fon cleared her throat. "Yoruichi-sama will see you in her office now." Naruto laughed nervously. "I'll be right there."

The black cat followed Soi Fon as she left the doorway opting to wait out in the hall.

Naruto looked back at the fox. "Kenshi this isn't funny let go."

The fox nearly growled at him.

Naruto sighed he'd been through worse pain. "Fine have it your way we can't keep her waiting that would just be rude."

Naruto grabbed the fox so its whole wait was not suspended from his finger. Soi Fon only raised an eyebrow at the scene of him carrying the fox while it was still attached to his finger.

After Soi Fon escorted him through a massive chamber and several small makeshift tunnels she stopped in front of a door. She knocked and Naruto heard Yoruichi call them in.

He found a woman with purple hair looking over a map on the wall. She was well toned and an obvious fighter. Naruto whispered to his fox. "Kenshi please let go of my finger. I don't need this right now."

Kenshi growled at him again. The woman turned a bit. "Did you just growl?"

Naruto laughed a bit. "No, my friend here decided he didn't like me scolding him when I woke up so he decided to clamp down on my finger and well here we are and he's still in a bad mood."

Yoruichi laughed as she looked at the white fox. "Maybe it wasn't the scolding more of the manner you scolded him in?"

A look of understanding passed over Naruto's face before he started whispering to the fox. "Alright I won't be rude and point at you like you're a two year old next time."

The fox released his hold on Naruto finger. Naruto a sigh of relief as the sharp pain gave way to a dull throbbing.

Kenshi jumped out of Naruto's arms and proceeded to sit and star at the map occasionally going on his hind legs to paw towards a marker near the bottom. The woman took a seat behind the simple desk in the room. She motioned for Naruto to do the same. "So I'm told that you were just recently explained your situation here."

Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, being dead and told that kind of doesn't set well with you at first."

Yoruichi nodded in understanding. "Either you died extremely violently or you slipped away peacefully is the most likely reason why you didn't realize you had died."

Naruto nodded at the information.

"Tell me how long have you been here?" Yoruichi asked patiently while steeling a few glances at the fox not missing that it was obviously listening to their conversation by the twitch of its ears.

"A couple months I would say." Naruto said.

Yoruichi nodded. "You must know a little bit about surviving on your own since you managed to survive so long. Mind if I ask what you did in your previous life?"

"Ninja." Naruto raised an eyebrow when Yoruichi started laughing. "Come on what were you really?"

Naruto crossed his arms and glared at her. "I already told you a ninja."

Yoruichi looked amused at the answer rather than perplexed. "Okay."

She looked over at the fox. "So what can you tell me about your fox?"

Naruto shrugged. "He's not really mine it's more like he claimed me. He was with me when I woke up and we've been watching out for each other ever since. He's more like a friend or companion than a pet." Yoruichi leaned a bit towards the side Kenshi was on. "So he chooses who he likes and doesn't himself then huh?"

Naruto just nodded at the question. Yoruichi called to Kenshi. "Kenshi." The fox turned its head at his name and looked over at the woman.

Yoruichi beckoned him over. Kenshi took his time to stretch a bit and lazily walked over towards the desk. He was just in range of her hand when he sniffed the air. He gave a small growl and trotted back over to the map and plopped back down on his hind quarters with his back faces the two once again.

Naruto was not really amused. "It looks like Kenshi doesn't like you for some reason. Don't take it personal he didn't really like Neliel at first."

Yoruichi merely brushed the fox's reaction off although she knew the reason why and to some extent couldn't blame him. She really had a lot of fun irritating the poor thing this morning.

"Well, with that aside he'll have to be your responsibility. I know he may do his own thing from time to time but the black stray cat that runs around doing her own thing is enough for this camp." Naruto nodded at the explanation.

"So whatever Kenshi does to that cat is of no consequence to me then?" Naruto asked.

Yoruichi seem to ponder on how to answer that. "Yes and no. Soi Fon has seemed to have taken a liking to the cat even naming it after me. Soi Fon isn't really someone you would want to get on her bad side with."

Naruto groaned. "So I'll have to make sure Kenshi doesn't kill the damn thing." Naruto sighed. "Anything else I should know while I stay here?"

Yoruichi hummed a bit. "Well, if you don't mind while you stay here we'd like you to help out as much as you can. Most people aren't capable of really fighting the Hollows so what few we do have that can need to be freed up for that capacity such as guard duty and such. You understand what I mean?"

Naruto nodded at that. "Sure help out a bit here and there I don't mind that." Naruto pondered on exactly how to approach the next question.

"Exactly how do you see if someone is capable of fighting these Hollows?" Naruto asked.

Yoruichi sighed. "I have a pretty good sense of what people are capable of by their spiritual energy that is around them. I'm sorry to say you are too low to really be of any help and probably why you didn't encounter any while you were out on your own."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "I assume people are capable of learning to control this energy to where they can suppress it right?"

Yoruichi started to nod her affirmative before the flare of energy that spiked from Naruto and then receded. She gave Naruto a hard look before continuing their conversation. "Alright, now you want to stop feeding me bullshit and tell me who you really are?"

Naruto could tell already she didn't like being made a fool. "I told you I'm a ninja. We are trained in controlling this stuff. Although it seems to be a bit less cooperative since I came to soul society." Naruto explained.

Yoruichi seemed to consider his words but still kept her serious expression. "Alright, I'll see that you are trained in how to combat Hollows. You'll still help around the encampment until your training is complete." Yoruichi stood up and yanked him off his chair by the collar. "You keep hiding shit from me and your teachers I will not be so understanding next time with the mere excuse of 'I'm a ninja' got it?"

Naruto was a bit wide eyed at her reaction. He nodded and the growl that came from between them didn't go unnoticed by either. Kenshi had his jaws ready to remove several layers of flesh from her wrist if she didn't let go of him.

Yoruichi smiled at the fox standing on her desk. She let Naruto go and let him back up a bit. As the fox relaxed his grip she slipped her hand over his head. "You keep taking care of him when he gets in over his head." She gave the fox a final pat on the head before ushering the two out of her office.

Naruto let out a breath he didn't even realize he had been holding. "Man that woman can be scary when she wants to be." The fox merely gave a huff of frustration as its response.

"What are you complaining about she seems to like you." Naruto grumbled as Soi Fon seemed to appear beside them. "Follow me I'll show you around so you can orient yourself to your new home."

The two were given the grand tour of the main chamber and tunnel system that made up the encampment they were told if they left for the surface for now they would need an escort until they were sufficiently trained.

Soi Fon didn't mind showing them around at the request of Yoruichi. The woman was definitely curious in these two so she would indulge such a simple request from her mentor. The only odd comment that she found was when Naruto asked her to keep her cat, Yoruichi, away from Kenshi if possible. She thought about correcting him but he had already slipped into his tent. She just shrugged it off he'd find out eventually.

* * *

Once again Naruto awoke to Kenshi growling once again at the same black cat. Naruto groaned and thumped Kenshi on the head. The cat kept stalking towards the bed as Kenshi continued to growl at the cat. Since the cat hadn't really done anything yet he figured he should get Kenshi's temperament under control before he outright attack the cat for doing nothing but being in the same room.

"Kenshi, Kenshi look here. No not at the cat look me in the eye. I'm only going to say this once. Leave the cat alone, got it?" Naruto said. Naruto glanced at the cat to see it start to wriggle its hind quarters like it was going to pounce. Pounce it did right onto Kenshi and all hell broke loose. After a quick scuffle the cat bolted out of the tent with Kenshi hot on its tracks. Naruto groaned. "Hopefully they won't make a mess… or Kenshi eat the damn thing considering what he did to rats and rabbits."

Naruto saw that he had been given new robes to train in that had been stacked on the box that would be his footlocker. At least he got a decent cot to sleep in. He yawned and gave his arms a good stretch as he made his way to the training grounds after getting cleaned up and new clothes on. He occasionally caught glimpses of the cat still being chased by Kenshi.

He got in line with a few other recruits and found Soi Fon standing before them along with a young lady with black hair and violet eyes. She wore different attire from Soi Fon, but they were still black in nature. The young lady stepped forward and introduced herself as Rukia Kuchiki. She would be their normal instructor in what she called demon magic and swordsmanship. She explained a little bit of how Kido worked. There were two sub classes of it; the first being, Bakudo, for binding and support uses, while the other, hado, was more destructive in nature.

Naruto was just about to fall asleep when he noticed that black cat was sitting next to Soi Fon with no Kenshi in sight. Naruto looked around for a bit only to see no fox around. He put into the back of his mind while Soi Fon took over, after Rukia's demonstration of the two classes of Kido, to start them off with exercises. It was on the fourth lap around the training grounds that Naruto saw Kenshi finally. Kenshi looked to be drying off after a good soak and was now stalking the black cat who was staring at the recruits as the jogged about the grounds. Naruto's eyebrow started to twitch. Kenshi was not about to attack that cat while it was sitting right next to Soi Fon was he?

Naruto kept his paces keeping an eye as Kenshi took his time sneaking his way up to the group of instructors and cat. Naruto groaned as Kenshi surprised the cat by grabbing its tail in his mouth and yanking to poor thing backwards and launched the cat through the air and across the massive chamber. Naruto stopped dead in his tracks as he watched the cat in all its indignity of screeching as it flew across the cavern landed in the hot spring on the far side. Kenshi was looking pretty satisfied with himself oblivious the all the shinigami and trainees in the area staring at him. Soi Fon's hand was twitching towards her sword. Naruto was surprised when the cat appeared before Kenshi soaking wet. Kenshi yipped happily as if laughing at the cat. Naruto watched as the cat sent Kenshi and evil smile before raring a front paw back with claws extended and swiped the paw right across Kenshi's nose. Kenshi's happy yipping stopped instantly giving way to a couple yelps of pain. Once that was over Kenshi put his head on the floor and put his paws on his muzzle and continued with soft whines.

Naruto walked over to the group. Soi Fon gave him a hard glare. "You better keep that thing under control next time I just might kill the damn thing if it interrupts another training session."

Naruto apologized for the interruption and carried the still whimpering Kenshi back to his tent. By the time he got back the group had proceeded to what looked to be kata for hand to hand sparring. Soi Fon asked him if he had any experience at hand to hand combat which he nodded a yes.

Soi Fon asked him to spar with her in order to see how adept he was at it. She showed no visible reaction to his skills, but she nodded in approval once their spar was over. Naruto kept Yoruichi's words in mind but he wasn't about to show the full form yet. Not until he was sure he could control his spiritual energy better. It was still too unpredictable to start using it along with his combat form. Channeling his elemental affinity through a medium had made it considerably easier to learn early on and keep it flowing with less effort.

Naruto sighed as wondered how death could be so similar and different at the same time. Rukia was soon back and explaining more of the basic things about spiritual energy and what they called it, Reiryoku. There were several forms of this with varying names but in short it was very similar in nature to what Naruto knew as chakra except this was primarily the spiritual energy aspect rather than a combination of spiritual and physical energies combining. Naruto sighed, it would take some time to get his control fine tuned and capable of using it as he had before but in theory he could continue to use his previous style of fighting it would just take some tweaking.

Naruto was tired and ready for some much needed rest after the morning he had been awoken to and the training he just underwent. He felt like he was back in his academy days although this time he was actually listening and understanding it.

Naruto was almost to his tent when Yoruichi seemed to appear next to him. "What the hell is it with you and Soi Fon coming out of nowhere?" Naruto said slightly out of surprise.

Yoruichi gave his a sly smile. "Shunpo is so much fun with new people."

Naruto just sighed. "I don't suppose I get to learn that any time soon do I?"

Yoruichi just shook her head showing that he wouldn't get that enjoyment anytime in the near future. "Shunpo is a little too advanced of a technique for most trainees." Yoruichi explained.

Naruto got a cocky grin on his face. "I'm not most trainees. After all I survived out there for nearly two months on my own."

Naruto opened the flap to his tent and the two found a fox still sound asleep on Naruto's cot after today's events.

Yoruichi had her on retort ready. "I wouldn't say you were totally alone out there." She walked over and sat down on the cot next to the fox. Kenshi didn't even move the slightest at the cot's slight shift from Yoruichi's weight.

She smiled at the peaceful fox. She started petting him and returned her attention to Naruto. "How was your first day?"

Naruto shrugged. "It was interesting and pretty educational to say the least." Naruto sat down in the chair by the one small table in the tent.

A pair of jaws gently clamped down on Yoruichi's hand and Kenshi whined at her. Naruto nearly fell over at the fox's action. Since when did he ever tread lightly with anyone?

Yoruichi smiled at the fox. "Awe, poor thing I'm not going to hurt you I promise."

When the fox let go of her hand she gently traced the deep claw marks on his nose and muzzle. "Care for another walk?" Yoruichi asked Naruto to which Naruto shrugged.

Yoruichi picked the fox up and carried him out of the tent to Naruto's surprise. Yoruichi continued to pet Kenshi while she walked next to Naruto in silence. "Is there a reason we are walking about?" Naruto asked finally breaking the silence.

Yoruichi just gave him an amused look. "I thought you didn't care."

Naruto just laughed. "I don't, but that doesn't stop my curiosity."

"I thought you would like to see something interesting to know about out spring here. It might come in handy if any of your training sessions go a little too far." Yoruichi said as they arrived to the spring. It was currently unoccupied.

Yoruichi set Kenshi down next to the spring. "Go on jump in it's nice and warm."

Kenshi seem to sniff at the water for a moment then dipped a paw in it then turned his nose up as if unsatisfied with it.

Yoruichi had a small twitch in her eyebrow caused from the uncooperative fox. She knelt down grabbed wad of fur along the back of his neck and head area and pushed down in order to throw the fox's head under the water. The result wasn't exactly what she expected. The fox resisted for only an instant before making a leap to try and clear the spring. The sudden change in direction by the fox threw Yoruichi off balance. Yoruichi, who kept a firm hold on the fox, went in to the spring clothing and all. It was a shallow spring allowing people to just sit in the water so it didn't take much to get to the surface. Shortly after breaking the surface Kenshi decided to use the top of her head as a life preserver after using her shoulder as a stepping stone. She spit out the mouthful of water she had manage to acquire as she had nearly yelled at the fox. Naruto's boisterous laughter did not escape her ears as she looked up to see him quite literally rolling around on the ground holding his sides.

Yoruichi found a fox's face looking at her upside down and she could swear he was smiling. Her eyes narrowed at the fox. "You did that on purpose." The fox replied with a happy yip and licked her face.

Yoruichi calmly picked up the fox off her head and held him out to the side and dropped him back into the spring before she stood up and got out. She quickly headed over to a pile of towels that was off to the side of the spring. She started to dry and noticed the fox was getting out next to Naruto. The first thing it did was shake all the excess water out of its fur while having Naruto right next to him. "Hey!" Was Naruto's shout as he tried to shield himself from the water going everywhere.

Once the fox was done it looked only damp with several patches frayed out, which it soon set to work grooming itself to fix.

Yoruichi couldn't help but chuckle at the event. Finally she got back to business and walked over to the two friends. "Alright now what I wanted you to see before the fox had his own ideas of fun." Yoruichi's voice caught the attention of the two as she grabbed the snout of the fox and held it to where Naruto could see it clearly.

"Were that scrapes and such can be healed if they are not too serious by these waters." Yoruichi finished as she let go of Kenshi's snout. Kenshi seemed to lick his nose a few times as if checking to see what she said was true.

Naruto ran a finger over the fox's nose too just to check. "Amazing." Was the only comment he could say to the feat.

"Well, since you seem to be settling into your training fairly well I'll see to it that Soi Fon has some chores for you tomorrow. I'll see you two around for now I need to get a clean change of clothes before giving a few teams their briefing on their supply deliveries." Yoruichi said before she shunpo'd away.

Naruto sighed as he and his fox made his way back to their tent. "We chose some interesting friends wouldn't you say Kenshi?" Kenshi's reply was a happy yip. Apparently he didn't mind their new home.

* * *

AN: Well there you have it. I could of wrote more but proof reading anything beyond 10k words really makes my eyes want to bleed especially after pretty much just writing and sometimes rewriting entire sections because the interaction of the characters just doesn't quite fit into how I think they would mesh. By all means if you felt a character was not portrayed accurately let me know and toss some hints in order to improve them and I'll try to correct such errors. I proof read this as best I could and wouldn't mind a beta that would want to help me out in that department since it's always great to have a fresh set of eyes.


	2. Omake

AN: Just wanted to say rewrite is up and hopefully the story is a little better developed. If anyone would like to be a beta for this story please let me know through PM. This idea just kind of hit me for a side scene so here you go I found it funny when I thought of it.

* * *

Yoruichi walked back to the room she and Soi Fon shared still damp from her dip in the spring. She noticed that Kenshi had caught up to her and started to follow.

As she slipped through the door she notied Soi Fon was alreayd there. Yoruichi was tired and wanted to sleep so she took the easy route and shifted into her cat form. Her clothes fell to the floor as she slipped out of them. Soi Fon saw what her mentor had did and huffed at her new found laziness at times. Soi Fon dutifully crossed the room and began to pick up after he mentor as she curled up on the soft pillow that served as Yoruichi's bed in order to save space. After all Yoruichi preferred her cat form over walking around in clothing.

Soi Fon also noticed as the fox was cautiously walking along the wall to avoid her. Soi Fon was about to say something when Yoruichi's voice called out. "Leave him be. He's just curious of his new found friend."

Soi Fon looked back. "What if he wants to stay the night here?"

Yoruichi just yawned. "Don't care he's kind of fun to have around."

Soi Fon seemed nervous about something, yet hesitant to ask it.

"What is it Soi Fon?" Yoruichi prompted as she looked at her old friend through the one eye she had cracked open.

"Do we know if he's potty trained?" Soi Fon asked innocently.

A snort was heard from Kenshi as it crossed the room to the adjacent bathroom and slammed the door behind him. Soon the two woman heard the sounds of the fox relieving itself in the toilet. They even heard the fox flush the toilet. The fox sent Soi Fon a glare as he exited the bathroom.

Soi Fon didn't say anything except a small after thought of the occurance. "So that's why I didn't find any droppings and have to tell Naruto to clean up his messes."

The fox curled itself up next to Yoruichi and fell fast asleep beside his new friend while Soi Fon joined the shortly.

* * *

AN: It may be lame but hey if anyone you noticed Naruto never had to deal with having to clean up any messes that would normal accompany a pet while in the installation or at Yoruichi's camp.


End file.
